shmenguin wrote:the steelers are a bunch of talented f***-ups, and they've been that way during the entire tomlin era. they could win the superbowl or finish out of the playoffs. certainly not a boring team to follow.

pretty much since they have roethlisberger is the real reason they could win the super bowl each year. the D's obviously still always been good but when you have a clutch QB you have a chance.

on the topic of the D, it's so disheartening over the last two years or so to see teams running the ball on it. opponents used to try to run 1st down, no gain, second down, loss of one, and completely give up on it. every opponent. for almost a decade. and these last few years i've let my frustration about non perfect run D be exaggerrated because i was so used to that. and i want to blame lebeau (and hampton/no smith or him not healthy etc). but it's a passing league now. maybe it's becoming less important to be able to stop the run. maybe it's more important to shut down aj green. did the bengals get 200 yards?

this game is the perfect example. i've rarely been so embarrassed by a steelers D against a non-patriots passing type game like i was on that bengals down our throats 15 play running game drive. and it seemed to confirm my expectations of this defense eventually collapsing to a lower middle tier. and if polamalu doesn't come back and harrison can't torque his knee and hood and heyward don't step it up immediately along with timmons and if the young corners don't pan out and if it becomes mundy and scott shields or whoever at safety then lebeau better continue to improve with age because i still see the collapse coming. but it didn't happen yesterday.

They didn't just stop the run, they forced the QB to make bad throws. They were able to blitz all the time and still stop the run. Thats why their D was great.

I think with more teams using a spread offense, it kind of limits what you can do with a 3-4. With the league being as pass happy as it is, you really need to be able to get at the qb with a 4 man rush. It's not really about hiding your exotic blitzes anymore.

Froggy wrote:I think with more teams using a spread offense, it kind of limits what you can do with a 3-4. With the league being as pass happy as it is, you really need to be able to get at the qb with a 4 man rush. It's not really about hiding your exotic blitzes anymore.

maybe, but i could argue the other way. so many option routes over the middle and presnap communication between QBs/WRs that disguising your defense and dropping surprising guys into zones can foil the quick passing tendencies.